Forever & Always

Author's note:
Another book inspired me to write this book. In the book a boy and a girl are best friends, but I...
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Author's note: Another book inspired me to write this book. In the book a boy and a girl are best friends, but I decided to make my characters fall in love. My best friend has encouraged me to continue with this book and but my heart and soul into it! Thank you Amber! I hope that people discover from this novel that sometimes the greatest sacrifices you make, whether or not they are good outcomes or bad, there could be consequences and you'll never know they are right around the corner.
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A Glimpse of My Painful Life

Yankee and I ran as fast as we could go, faster than before. We finally got back to the barn. I hopped off, without the stool. I pulled Yankee into his stall and closed his gate.
“Love you baby,” I said as softly as I could. I moved quickly and smoothly. I did what Daddy did when this stuff happens with him. After I locked Yankee in his stable, I closed the front door and latched it. I said goodbye to Yankee one more time then I ran out the back door and locked it as well. I had to run about a mile to get back home. Just the mire thought of running that far made me feel sick. I kept going and my foot slipped down a hill. I started falling and tumbling down into the long hard grass that struck against my body. I struggled to keep myself from falling any further, any harder. I finally reached the end and looked up to see where I had fallen from. I got back on my feet and jogged behind a bush to rest. My bones hurt and I realized I was bleeding. The side of my stomach was torn apart. The skin lashed out into pieces. This was probably from tumbling down those hills. I thought I had hit something sharp, most likely a rock. I heard something bark from the forest, back the way I came. Mountain lions don’t bark, dogs do. I realized I was behind this bush alone. Without Toto.
I remembered I had an old towel in my back jean pocket from washing Yankee. I pulled it out and wrapped it around my waist. It was painful but durable. I had to make a decision. I couldn’t leave Toto, he wouldn’t survive. I couldn’t survive without him. I started running as fast as my legs could carry me. I got back into the forest feeling great fear yet courage. I knelt down behind a bush and peeked through the leaves to see the clearing.
Then it hit me. Daddy always said that those lions where smarter then they appealed! They had set up a trap! The open space of dirt surrounded by trees was their own trap to attract prey! They were trying to trap me as soon as I walked out of the bushes to grab Toto. They were in the trees; and you could feel it. It was the most disturbing feel I had yet to grasp.
Another decision came upon me. I had to rescue Toto but it wouldn’t be any use to me if I got my life taken away by disgusting beasts. I was not going leave untouched without him. He was lying in the clearing with his leg twisted the wrong way and his head to the floor. He wasn’t dead because the lions knew if they killed him I wouldn’t come back for lunch!
I ran out of the bush and grabbed Toto. But nothing happened. I didn’t want to wait and see which left me the option of running back out of the woods. I dashed past the trees and they hit me hard like when I was riding Yankee. Mountain lions don’t just disappear out of nowhere. They hide. I didn’t want to waste any time waiting and watching.
I ran up the hill that would lead into the field. I got to the top and I saw the house. The house reminded me of Mamma’s warm cookies and hot chocolate in the cold and icy winter. The fire place was burning as the steam blew out of the chimney. I kept running and I saw Miranda.
“Miranda!” I screamed. “Help, please help!”
And the last thing I saw was Miranda rushing toward me as I dropped to the ground.

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I awoke on the sofa with blurry people all around me. I first saw Junior. He knelt over the side of the sofa yelling words no one could understand. Then I felt a warm goo fall on my right arm. I opened my eyes to take a closer look to my surroundings and Junior was smiling down at me with his big blue eyes and wet face. He had drooled on my arm.

“Mamma, Mamma, Mamma!!!!!” Junior yelled to the open air. And not soon after that I see mother coming around the kitchen corner with a glass of warm tea and a side of butterscotch cookies. She looked down at me and smiled as she handed me the glass of warm tea and set the plate of cookies on the coffee table. She picked Junior up and set him in his baby swing. She sat down on the edge of the sofa next to me and spoke in a loving tone.
“Hi dear. How are you feeling?”
“Okay. My leg hurts.”
“Alright, let me get the extra pillow from the closet to prop it up high. I’ll also grab the ice pack.” She replied.
I lay on the coach looking around. The house was quiet. I didn’t know what day it was and that played in affect of where Miranda would be. I looked over at Junior in his baby swing and tried to smile at him. Mamma came around the corner with a big pillow and a bag of ice. She carefully lifted my leg in the air as I cried out in pain. She pushed the pillow under it and put the ice bag on my lower leg.
“Is that better honey?” Mamma asked.
“Yes, it feels much better.”
“Is anything else in pain?”
“My cheek hurts.” I pointed out.
I ran my hand across my cheek as I winced from the cuts and bruises. There were many scratches and dried blood. Mother came back in from the kitchen with a wash cloth and some bandages.
“Now darling I am going to clean your face up from all that blood and then bandage them up. It may sting a little. Alright?” Mamma said with a cautious voice as if she were afraid that I would try to back away.
She rubbed gently over my right cheek where the worse cut had lain. She was right, it did sting. I tried not to cry though the tears still formed in my eyes. She used special oil that stung even worse though it did disinfect the cut so it wouldn’t become infected.
Once she was done she put a band aid on top of it and laid white bandage strips over top of the band aid. She wiped down the rest of my face with just a wash cloth. Everything looked much better.
“I know everything hurts honey but the doctor is coming right before lunch. He will tell you and me everything we need to know.” Mamma said.
“Mamma where’s Daddy and Miranda?” I asked.
“Daddy’s at work and Miranda is at Jenna’s house.”
“Who is Jenna?” I asked.
“Jenna is Miranda’s new friend from school. They have been hanging out together a lot lately. I really think your sister has found a good friend that…… umm…”
“Hasn’t died,” I said with a sad scratchy voice.
“Yes, precisely,” Mamma said back to me.
Last year Miranda’s friend died. Her name was Lauren and she was a pretty girl. Lauren had long black straight hair and big blue eyes. She was really nice to everybody she met and she was smart too. Lauren always loved to take pictures of Miranda and her to hang in her bedroom. They were like sisters. Then one morning Lauren came over to ask Miranda if she wanted to come to an art show with her. Lauren was an amazing artist. Miranda couldn’t because she had a ton of homework to finish, because she had been sick the week before. Lauren said that was fine and she wasn’t mad; she completely understood. Lauren got back into her mom’s car and drove away. That afternoon Lauren was shot and killed. Miranda was devastated for practically half a year. She has been going to counseling ever since then because she thought it was her fault. Then I think Miranda realized it wasn’t her fault because if she would have gone with Lauren, she could’ve lost her life as well.
Later that morning, the door bell rang and Mamma answered the door. The doctor was here. I hate it when doctors come. They think they’re so smart just because they know what’s wrong with you.
“Hello ma’am, I’m Dr. Charles, how are you?” the man in the door way said.
“Hello sir I am Nellie Smith, I am wonderful thank you for asking. Please come in.” Mamma replied.
“Thank you Mrs. Smith, where is this beautiful young lady I will be taking care of?”
“Oh please, call me Nellie. She is right over here, follow me.”
Mamma led Dr. Charles to the couch where I laid. This doctor seemed nice. I don’t think I would mind him examining me.
“Hello there, I’m Dr. Charles, you must be Annabelle Smith, my patient this afternoon,” Dr. Charles said.
“Yes, that would be me. Nice to meet you,” I said back.
“Well let’s get on with it then shall we,” Mamma said to both of us.
The doctor slowly started giving me instructions to move my leg to see if anything was damaged. He told me that my leg was just severely bruised and my foot and ankle were completely broken. After that he said he had to cast my foot from my toes up to above my ankle.
“Miss Annabelle, I have brought all my supplies with me so that I can perform any task needed,” Dr. Charles blurted out. “What color would you like your cast to be?”
“I guess I will have pink,” I said back to him.
Dr. Charles started wrapping my foot with white soft material and shortly afterwards he started putting a hard pink cast around my foot. It felt weird but it helped with support.
“Ok Annabelle, we now need to examine your hip. It may be painful but it will be over soon,” Dr. Charles said with a caring emphasis.
He started pressing on my upper leg to see if there was any pain in that area but that was not the place that disturbed me to the point where I refused to look down. He told my mother that I need to have a slight operation done to put my skin back together. He said that there would be stitches involved and maybe some staples.
“Your stomach is severely injured and it needs to be operated on or it could get infected. I will be consulting Nurse Eve to see when she can have the operation done. Do you folks have a telephone?” Dr. Charles said.
“Yes, right this way Dr. Charles,” mother said as she led Dr. Charles into the kitchen where the telephone hung on the wall.
The cast on my foot was very heavy. I am glad I chose pink though. My stomach was the worse. I couldn’t dare look down upon it. I was really dreading the whole surgery part of it. Nurse Eve seemed nice by the way Dr. Charles described her.
Mother and Dr. Charles came out of the kitchen moments later.
“Alright Annabelle I have contacted Nurse Eve and she said she could have the operation done this week; now actually,” Dr. Charles said looking me dead straight in the eye.
“You mean her condition is so serious that Nurse Eve can perform the operation right now, today?” Mamma said with a gasp.
“Precisely, this is damage that we need to deal with right now. She needs to be rushed to the hospital immediately,” Dr. Charles said in a quick and quiet tone as he rushed over to the telephone again to dial for an ambulance.
It wasn’t long after Dr. Charles’ phone call that the ambulance arrived in the driveway of the ranch house.
“Okay Annabelle, let’s get you to the ambulance,” Dr. Charles said to me. “Hurry, since your foot is broken I would usually give you crutches but your hip is in great disarray that I shall wheel you out. I hobbled into the wheel chair and Mamma walked right beside me as the older men rushed out of the ambulance. One of the doctors lifted me onto the Gurnee and pulled it up as I laid my head on the pillow and soft Gurnee mattress. The ride to the hospital was long and overwhelming. Yet, Dr. Charles seemed very calm. I decided to follow in his footsteps.
Once we arrived at the hospital the nurses greeted me and I found that none of them were rushing, that made me feel a lot better.
“Hello Annabelle, my name is Nurse Eve, I will be helping Dr. Charles and Dr. Henderson perform your procedure.
What? Dr. Henderson? That’s Carter’s last name! What is Carter’s dad doing on this level of the building?
I decided to keep quiet about my inner thoughts as Nurse Eve wheeled me up to floor two in the elevator.
“So, Annabelle, how old are you?” Nurse Eve asked.
“Fifteen,” I said with a nervous rack in my voice.
“Oh, if you are wondering I am thirty- five, hopefully that will make you feel better that I have much experience with procedures like so,” she replied. “Have you had any type of surgical procedure before?” She asked.
“No, unless you count getting you tonsils taken out when you were seven,” I said with a giggle, feeling much more comfortable around who used to be a stranger to me.
“Here we are Miss,” Nurse Eve said politely as she wheeled me out of the elevator.
“Now Annabelle I am going to hand you over to Dr. Henderson here and you will see me soon in the operating room, alright?”
“Hello, Annabelle,” Dr. Henderson said with a grin.
“Mr. Henderson?” I asked with a surprise.
Then a tall young boy came jogging around the corner. It looked to be Carter.
“Hey Annie, how are you feeling?” Carter asked.
“Carter!” I yelled as I reached out to hug him.
He wrapped his arms around me as I squeezed him with joy. “Carter, what are you doing here?” I asked hopelessly confused.
“I wasn’t going to let you come alone, and my dad said since he was giving you the procedure I should be the one there beside you,” Carter said in his caring voice.
“Awww, thank you Carter,” I said back. I knew that I was pleased that he was there for me.
Mr. Henderson wheeled my bed into a large room with large machines sitting around an operating table. I saw Nurse Eve standing around my wheel chair from earlier cleaning it and getting it ready for when my procedure was over.
“Alright Annabelle I am going to put this mask on your face and you need to breathe in slowly. Don’t worry it will not harm you or hurt at all, you are just simply breathing in a special gas that will make you fall asleep so we can continue with your surgery while you are unconscious,” Mr. Henderson said to me.
Once Mr. Henderson put the huge mask over top my mouth I started breathing deep and slow. I began to feel very dizzy like I was spinning. Yet everyone was standing perfectly still. As I drifted off into my dream world I saw Toto and Yankee safe with Mamma smiling and well. Then I heard Carter’s voice, “Everything will be okay Annie, I’ll be here the whole time.... everything will be okay....”

Thank you so much! I am going to try to post some more of my work so you guys can enjoy it! Also just to let you know, the beginning of the book has changed a little but nothing major so I might update it if I can figure it out :)